- 2 days ago
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Ever since the 1950s, rumors have swirled around a mysterious patch of land in the southern Nevada desert.
00:11Federal government spent 60 years trying to convince us that it didn't exist.
00:16There are stories of UFOs, secret aerospace projects, projects that are beyond the public's ability to understand.
00:23Even the president isn't briefed on what's going on there.
00:26For decades, the world's been trying to find out what secrets lie within Area 51.
00:33When it comes to nuclear testing, if you want to talk about an irradiated hot zone, this place is it.
00:38It's a place that may hold some very dark secrets about medical experimentation on unwilling participants.
00:44It's one of the most tightly restricted areas in America.
00:47So if you want to keep something top secret, put it in Area 51.
00:51Now, we'll explore the top theories surrounding America's most clandestine military base.
00:57In the summer of 2019, a social media event goes live.
01:22It's called Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us.
01:28The idea is that if enough people rush the facility's perimeter, someone could make it through and reveal once and for all what's hiding inside.
01:39Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us, is a huge viral sensation.
01:46And what started as almost an internet joke turned into a serious national security issue.
01:56Millions of people start responding and saying they're going or they're interested in going to the point where the government is like, we have to do something about this.
02:06They, in fact, send reinforcements to Nevada to protect this site.
02:11There's personnel authorized to use deadly force if needed.
02:15The hope was that Storm Area 51 would generate a very large crowd to overwhelm base security, and the numbers just didn't turn out.
02:24The base has layers and layers of security, and everyone who is employed there sign non-disclosure agreements that are binding for life.
02:36And the penalties are severe.
02:38The security perimeter around the facility is functionally impregnable.
02:43So you've got checkpoints, motion detectors, there are guard dogs, there's armed base security personnel.
02:51The area is constantly under the surveillance of satellites that are passing overhead.
02:56The airspace over it is restricted.
02:59They call it the box.
03:00Even if you are a pilot at the nearby Nellis Air Force Base, you can't fly over.
03:06It's the most secretive base in the United States, and it's been that way for over 70 years.
03:13In the early 1950s, before there was anything called Area 51, just this thing called Groom Lake, which is a long, dry lake bed in the region.
03:25The closest town, Rachel, Nevada, very tiny.
03:28Hardly anyone lives there.
03:30It's believed that the base got its government name from an old Atomic Energy Commission map that designated the area as Grid 51.
03:38To the public, it's still just Groom Lake.
03:42But in 1955, there's an obvious uptick in security.
03:48People who live in the surrounding area start noticing some very strange things.
03:53Lights in the sky.
03:55Aircraft that don't look like any aircraft that they recognize.
03:59Flying 50,000 feet higher than the commercial aircraft of the time.
04:04No one knows of any aircraft around in the 1950s that can go that high in the air.
04:09This is just on the heels of the 1947 Roswell incident, where in Roswell, New Mexico, an unidentified flying object crash-landed to the ground.
04:20Initially, the government says, we have found an unidentified flying object.
04:25And that immediately is switched to, it was a weather balloon.
04:28And when people sense a cover-up, speculation runs rampant.
04:32It puts this idea of UFOs firmly in the minds of every American citizen.
04:37But the public definitely isn't imagining what happens on November 17th, 1955.
04:44An airplane crashes right on the edge of Area 51.
04:48There's an enormous explosion.
04:49There's a huge pillar of smoke that can be seen as far away as Las Vegas.
04:54And news crews, as they will, go rushing towards the scene of the tragedy to provide coverage.
04:59They're turned away, and by being turned away, this suggested that there was something far more secretive going on.
05:06The whole thing is shrouded in secrecy.
05:10Rumors start circulating.
05:13Right next to Area 51 is the Nevada test site, where the United States is testing, detonating atomic bombs.
05:21But the proximity of this nuclear test site makes people think, well, is this something to do with nuclear secrets?
05:35In reality, the crash is related to a different government program, hidden in the desert.
05:41During that time period, workers at Area 51, they're being flown in from another state and delivered to this secret facility.
05:49And that's done on purpose, because if you bring your personnel in and they can live in base housing or they can live in private housing immediately adjacent to the base, well, people might talk.
06:01In reality, this November 17, 1955 crash was a crash of one of those transport planes.
06:08But at the time, no one knew this.
06:10And also, the local population and the journalists really have no idea what this base at Groom Lake's purpose is.
06:18All of these things just sprinkle even greater levels of conspiratorial suspicion on a place that's already a little bit suspicious to begin with.
06:26The most popular theory of what's being hidden at this facility goes back to the early 1950s, and it is the development of one of America's most effective tools during the Cold War, the U-2 spy plane.
06:45During the Cold War, the big challenge that we were facing was that we didn't have much in the way of human intelligence on the ground in the Soviet Union.
06:52The kind of empirical intelligence that you needed was photographic intel, and we needed an aircraft that could collect photo intel.
07:01The only problem was that the airspace over the parts of the Soviet Union where we wanted photo intel, well, that was well-defended airspace.
07:09The aircraft would be brought down by fighter interceptors or surface-to-air missiles.
07:13The United States believes that if they can build an aircraft that can fly higher than any Soviet air defenses, they might be able to literally overfly Soviet territory with impunity.
07:24And that's what leads to the development of the U-2.
07:27The U-2 spy plane is one of the country's most important top-secret military programs, monitored closely by President Dwight D. Eisenhower himself.
07:36By 1956, they were successful.
07:41They had their plane, and the U-2 was now entering Soviet airspace.
07:45And this is a big deal, because violating another country's airspace, especially that of your enemy, could be seen as an act of war.
07:54It is highly classified.
07:56Only a handful of people know this thing exists.
07:59And after years and years of spying on the Soviet Union, May 1960, the United States' luck runs out.
08:08One of the CIA's U-2 pilots, Francis Gary Powers, took off on a flight headed across the center of the Soviet Union.
08:16Powers was supposed to photograph various missile sites where it looked like the Soviets might be developing and testing high-altitude rockets.
08:25But Powers has the misfortune of some form of engine problem with his U-2.
08:32He falls into the engagement envelope of Soviet air defenses, and his aircraft is shot down.
08:38On display in Moscow, the wreckage of pilot Francis Powers' U-2 reconnaissance plane for Muscovites and foreign newsmen to see.
08:46The U.S. first claimed that they shot down an off-course weather airplane, but the problem was that they had parts of the plane.
08:55And this included cameras which had, on its reels, images of the nuclear silos in the Soviet Union.
09:03Powers winds up telling them that he's actually on a surveillance flight.
09:07He essentially admits to what he's been up to, and eventually Powers will be exchanged for Soviet agents that have been captured in the United States.
09:16While the existence of the U-2 spy plane is now public, the story behind it remains top secret, as does the base where it was created, a base that some experts posit is Area 51.
09:30At this time in the 1950s and the 1960s, Area 51, it's not like it is today.
09:37Today, we've got tons of journalists who are digging into Area 51, trying to figure out what's going on there.
09:43That interest wasn't there.
09:46UFO enthusiasts, certainly, after the Roswell incident, are aware of various things happening in this area.
09:52It's certainly a site of a lot of UFO sightings.
09:54All along the way, though, the government maintains there's nothing there.
10:00Ultimately, in 2013, the veil of secrecy is lifted, and the government admits that Area 51 exists.
10:07And they even put out a rudimentary map of the base.
10:11And with this release, they acknowledge that this base was established in 1955 to develop high-level aerospace technologies, like the U-2 spy plane.
10:22With all of these declassifications, the government says all of those UFO sightings in the 1950s, in the 1960s, these glowing objects in the sky are explained by test flights of the U-2 spy planes.
10:36When you look at a U-2 aircraft, and you see the huge wings, the silver color, the shininess, and you throw in the fact that it was going way faster than anyone thought aircraft could go, and flying way higher than anyone thought aircraft could fly, it's no wonder people reported them as UFOs.
10:59Another part of the declassified materials in 2013 was that regular commute that people were making from Lockheed's base known as Skunk Works in L.A. to Area 51 to be working on these planes.
11:13So here is where we suddenly get the revelation about that plane crash into the mountainside, just outside of Area 51.
11:21For the federal government, this wraps things up very nicely. It explains all of the theories that are out there. The bottom line is, don't worry. Now we've told you everything you need to know. All this UFO stuff can be put to rest. This is simply a facility for the development of advanced aerospace technology.
11:41But experts who've studied the base for decades believe there's far more to the story.
11:47Of course, people are saying to themselves, well, wait a minute. It's great that you're declassifying this information, but this is about stuff that happened back in the 50s and the 60s. What about now?
11:58When the Area 51 military base opens at Groom Lake, Nevada in 1955, the land it's on already has a history of top secret activities.
12:12The Nevada test site was developed so that the American military could conduct atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons, something that was critically important during the Cold War arms race.
12:21In fact, it's revealed eventually that the Atomic Energy Commission is conducting tests not within the Nevada test site, but in parcels of land that are immediately to the north of it, the area designated 51 at Groom Lake.
12:35By the time Area 51 really gets going in an operational sense in 1955, there have already been 32 atmospheric tests of nuclear bombs at the Nevada test site.
12:50Obviously, there is radiation and fallout.
12:54They have to schedule these things so that the wind is not blowing the fallout towards Las Vegas.
13:01Trouble is, the fallout is blowing the other way, and it's going to Groom Lake.
13:07You'd think that the CIA would avoid building a base on an area that has received all that nuclear fallout, but what's so good about Groom Lake is that that meant it was one of the most tightly restricted areas in America.
13:21So it's already desolate, it's already isolated, and it's already highly restricted.
13:26So if you want to keep something top secret, put it in Groom Lake.
13:31In 1957, the Cold War is really kind of ramping up to a fever pitch, and the idea is that we need to be ready for anything.
13:42In playing out these scenarios, the goal is to use real bombs and real people.
13:49During this time, there was this program, Operation Plumb Bob, which calls for no less than 29 nuclear explosions in a four-month period.
13:59Officially, these explosions are to take place at the Nevada test site, but some researchers believe they take place within Area 51 as well.
14:09According to journalist Annie Jacobson's book, Area 51, An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base, the government decides to conduct some of its most clandestine tests deep within the top secret facility.
14:25There are very good reasons why testing would be moved to Area 51, and there are some pretty powerful indications that they played fast and loose with safety concerns.
14:42It's believed that the U.S. government likely conducted some atmospheric nuclear testing beyond the Limited Test Ban Treaty of 1963, when we should no longer have been conducting atmospheric nuclear tests.
14:55But it sure does look like, based on evidence from Area 51, we still did it.
14:59All this does is it makes you question the extent to which the site was dangerously irradiated.
15:04In 1993, Eileen Welsom writes a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles in the Albuquerque Tribune, where she reveals the extent to which intentional radiation experimentation was being done by our government on human subjects, in what is an unnamed Nevada test site.
15:26Bert, you were out there. How's about some comments on this radiation I hear so much about?
15:30Well, for example, the other day I was out there at 2,500 yards from ground zero, and I received one middle rankin' of radiation.
15:37As you can see, I'm still here.
15:39There are those that believe Area 51 is the unnamed Nevada location where radiation experiments were kept hidden from the public for decades.
15:49The government has reported to be feeding children trace radioactive elements, intentionally exposing prisoners and soldiers to radiation,
15:58injecting people with plutonium.
16:00I mean, it's really terrible, the things that were happening to people.
16:05And, of course, all of this was being covered up by the government.
16:10Unfortunately, the United States government has a long history of using citizens as test subjects.
16:16There's an awful lot of military personnel that are exposed to radiation in the 1950s in pursuit of the Pantomac Army,
16:23the idea that the army might be able to fight on a nuclear battlefield.
16:26And, unfortunately, the government has often classified some citizens as being more expendable than others,
16:33those suffering from physical or mental defects, or even those from conditions of extreme poverty.
16:39In 1994, then-President Bill Clinton forms a committee specifically to look into these claims of intentional radiation poisoning against human subjects.
16:50The United States government actually did carry out on our citizens experiments involving radiation.
16:57But according to Annie Jacobson, the experiments believed to be conducted at Area 51 are cloaked in such extreme secrecy,
17:06even the Oval Office isn't in the loop.
17:08Even for the president, the information from Groom Lake specifically from Area 51 is kept classified
17:17because it is only releasable on a need-to-know basis,
17:20and even a president's committee to investigate this specifically apparently doesn't need to know.
17:27There are those who believe that the reality here is that government made a lot of people sick,
17:33and Area 51 has been cloaked in secrecy for 75 years now
17:39because the government doesn't want to own up to the fact that it irradiated a lot of people and made a lot of people sick.
17:45So everything has to be top secret now to dodge the consequences associated with things that it did during the Cold War.
17:56Over a decade after Area 51 is established, a significant event unfolds,
18:03not in Nevada, but at an airbase on the other side of the world.
18:09In 1966, the country of Iraq is an ally of the Soviet Union,
18:14and because of this, they have been given a small number of MiG jets.
18:19The MiG-21 is arguably the best fighter jet in the world at that time.
18:23It is the pinnacle of Soviet engineering, and it's also super top secret.
18:28Iraqi Air Force Colonel Lunair Redfa has been cleared for a routine training flight,
18:34but what follows will be anything but routine.
18:37During the Cold War, the Israeli Mossad is constantly on the lookout for anyone who might be disaffected,
18:44and Munir Redfa is highly decorated from previous combat engagements,
18:49but he believes that his career has been stymied because he's of the Christian faith.
18:53Because Redfa is a Christian, he's treated as an outsider.
18:58So even though he's one of Iraq's most decorated pilots, his government still does not fully trust him.
19:05An undercover Mossad agent contacts Redfa and makes him an incredible offer.
19:10For a million dollars, they will give him a job in Israel,
19:14and they will secretly transport his family out of Iraq.
19:17So they've come up with a plan that he is going to steal one of these MiG fighter planes
19:24in what would become Operation Diamond,
19:28one of the most amazing covert operations of the 20th century.
19:32What happens next will shock the world
19:34and reverberate nearly 8,000 miles away at Area 51.
19:40When Redfa takes off, he's supposed to be completing a very short flight to Baghdad,
19:45but Redfa has to fly out of Iraq to Jordanian airspace.
19:49The Iraqi air defense radar figures out what he's up to pretty quickly.
19:52He is challenged over the radio to turn back,
19:55otherwise interceptor aircraft will be dispatched to shoot him down.
19:59He starts flying in these crazy zigzag patterns to evade being shot down.
20:03He flies incredibly dangerously low with this plane.
20:07He's thundering along at a mere 750 feet above ground level.
20:11The Iraqi air force are pursuing him.
20:13The route that he is flying confuses them.
20:15He's on radar one minute and then off radar the next.
20:18They can't keep up with him.
20:20He then eventually flies out across Turkish airspace,
20:23out over the Mediterranean,
20:25and then completes a turn that will take him to his final destination,
20:28which is a secret air base in the Negev Desert in Israel.
20:31The Mossad has been trying to get its hands
20:34on this top-secret Soviet tech for years,
20:38and now they finally have it.
20:40The MiG, the most advanced Soviet fighter plane at this time.
20:45And behind the scenes,
20:47the Americans are also desperate to get their hands
20:51on the stolen Soviet aircraft.
20:53At that time, Soviet-built MiGs are being used
20:58in the skies over North Vietnam,
21:00and in particular, the MiG-21 is a very capable interceptor.
21:04It's fast, it's maneuverable, it's well-armed, and it's dangerous.
21:07It's causing problems for American fighter aircraft
21:10that are trying to fight it off.
21:12But once you get your hands on a MiG-21,
21:14you can essentially find out its weaknesses.
21:16In just a few years, the air war in Vietnam has taken a turn.
21:22By 68, American aircraft are shooting down MiGs
21:25with a ratio of 13 to 1 in the American advantage.
21:29The turnaround happens so quickly
21:31that there was speculation that the American government
21:36must have gotten its hands on one of these MiG planes.
21:39And there was, of course, suspicion,
21:41where might something like that be worked on?
21:43Where might it take place?
21:44Some theorists think it's Area 51.
21:52Soon after the defection of Redfa,
21:56Soviet surveillance over Area 51 gets really ramped up.
22:01In addition, locals report an uptick in activity
22:06in the skies over Area 51.
22:08Sightings of strange aircraft,
22:10very fast-moving and repeated sonic booms.
22:14Slowly, over the years,
22:17declassified documents reveal the true story
22:19behind the stolen MiG.
22:22It's really not until declassified materials in 2013.
22:25We finally find out the U.S. indeed
22:28did get that MiG fighter jet from the Israelis.
22:33The project's codename was Hav Donut.
22:35The name Hav Donut comes from the fact that
22:38the nose of the aircraft is this one gargantuan air intake
22:42because it's circular with a cone-shaped piece in the center.
22:46To some people, it looks like a donut.
22:48By 1968, the United States has reverse-engineered this aircraft
22:54and have their own MiGs.
22:55It's this secret air force of MiGs.
22:59And some people say it explains a lot of these UFO sightings.
23:05Once the U.S. built its own MiGs,
23:08they can then study its fighting characteristics.
23:10So U.S. pilots were taught to use hit-and-run tactics
23:15to have quick engagements
23:17and also get out of there
23:19and do so by gaining altitude really fast.
23:23This pilot training was ultimately moved
23:25to Southern California in 1969
23:27and it became known as the Top Gun Program.
23:32Because of Hav Donut,
23:33the United States turns the tables on the MiG.
23:37Eventually, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force
23:39shoot down 137 MiGs.
23:41And those shoot-downs were occasioned entirely
23:43on the lessons learned from Hav Donut.
23:46Some intelligence experts argue
23:48this is the main reason for Area 51's extreme secrecy.
23:53It houses stolen MiGs
23:55and other highly classified enemy aircraft.
23:58Not everyone agrees.
24:01Stealing military aircraft from an adversary
24:04is something that goes on pretty much all the time.
24:08And so people then say,
24:10well, does that really justify
24:12the excessive secrecy at Area 51?
24:15And why was its existence denied for years and years?
24:21And that's led people to say,
24:22maybe there was something else.
24:24Programs beyond anything the public can conceive.
24:27According to some reports,
24:33spy plane testing at Area 51 in the 1950s and 60s
24:37accounted for half of all UFO sightings on the West Coast.
24:42The odd-looking top-secret aircraft
24:44are believed to have fooled plenty of people.
24:48But for many researchers,
24:50this doesn't really explain
24:51the strangest activity people have witnessed
24:53and continue to witness over Area 51.
24:57They believe the real answer lies
24:59in the testimony of one man.
25:02On May 15th in 1989,
25:04on local Las Vegas news,
25:07a man gives an interview
25:08and claims that he worked at a secret military base
25:12near Area 51,
25:14known as S-4,
25:15in Southern Nevada.
25:16And it was his job specifically
25:19to reverse-engineer
25:21anti-gravity propulsion systems
25:23from UFO technology.
25:26So it was real obvious what was in the hangar.
25:28You could see about three-quarters of the edge of the craft.
25:31It was a typical flying saucer.
25:33It was, uh,
25:34I say typical,
25:35I mean, like,
25:36anything you'd see in a cartoon.
25:37According to Lazar,
25:38the United States Navy
25:40has possession of nine alien spaceships,
25:43one of which Lazar was assigned
25:45to analyze at Area 51.
25:47This is really major news.
25:50I mean, this blows up
25:52the conspiracy theories about Area 51.
25:54He says that we have had alien encounters,
25:57that what's being hidden there
25:59is not nuclear secrets,
26:00is not spy planes,
26:01but is, in fact,
26:03known alien technology.
26:08According to Bob Lazar,
26:10his road to Area 51
26:12began when he was working at Los Alamos,
26:15and he attended a lecture
26:16that was given by
26:17the father of the hydrogen bomb,
26:19Edward Teller.
26:20And Edward Teller then recommends
26:22that he get hired by this company,
26:24EG&G.
26:26EG&G has been referred to
26:28as the most important defense contractor
26:30that you've never heard of.
26:32And according to Lazar,
26:34EG&G apparently has been,
26:36since the mid-50s,
26:38doing clandestine work
26:40at Area 51.
26:42Upon being hired by EG&G
26:45to work at Area 51,
26:48Lazar realizes why his employer
26:50is so secretive.
26:52Lazar is assigned to work
26:54at a location called S-4,
26:56which is several miles
26:57from the main base.
26:58Lazar claims that at S-4,
27:00the government has flying saucers,
27:02antimatter reactors,
27:04and other advanced technologies
27:06that nobody knows about.
27:08He says that his main job at S-4
27:10was to reverse engineer
27:11one of the anti-gravity propulsion technologies
27:14from this alien aircraft.
27:16Bob explains that
27:18this technology
27:19is actually operational,
27:21but nobody understands
27:23how it works.
27:24And in fact,
27:25he says he was given a manual
27:26for one of these ships
27:28that includes images of aliens,
27:31which he understands
27:32to be the pilots of these ships.
27:35Human hands did not put this together.
27:38The technology was far beyond
27:41anything that we had.
27:43Lazar is purportedly
27:44so blown away
27:46by what he's seeing at work,
27:47he can no longer keep it a secret.
27:50Lazar tells his friend
27:52and his wife about this.
27:54And he says that
27:54there is one particular location
27:57where if you climb up this mountain,
28:00you can see onto Area 51 airspace,
28:04you can see where these tests
28:06of flying saucers are taking place.
28:08Eventually, he's caught,
28:10he's fired,
28:12and he is told
28:12never to come back.
28:14And after this,
28:16he begins to suspect
28:18that maybe he's being followed.
28:20He says his tires are slashed,
28:22he says that people are tracking him,
28:24and that's when he decides
28:25it's time to go public.
28:27Information soon surfaces,
28:29calling Lazar's credibility
28:31into question.
28:33EG&G claims
28:34that they don't have any record
28:36of Lazar ever working for the company.
28:38He also claims
28:39to have attended MIT,
28:41and they claim
28:41that they don't have any record
28:43of him ever attending.
28:44Los Alamos also says
28:46that Lazar never worked there,
28:48but local reporters
28:49dig up an old phone book
28:50from Los Alamos,
28:51and Lazar's name is inside,
28:54so they think
28:54that's proof
28:56that Lazar did, in fact,
28:57work at Los Alamos.
28:59Now, according to Lazar,
29:01this is all part
29:02of the government cover-up.
29:03They go in,
29:04and they clear out
29:05any reference of him
29:06so that it looks like
29:07he's been lying.
29:08There are die-hard
29:10Lazar supporters
29:11who believe he is
29:12absolutely telling the truth
29:13that the campaign
29:15against him
29:15is a smear campaign,
29:17he's being erased
29:18from history,
29:19that he did work
29:20at Los Alamos,
29:20he did attend MIT,
29:22and there's others
29:23who believe
29:23that he's a fraud,
29:25that he is making
29:26all of this up,
29:26that all of this
29:27is simply
29:28a pack of lies.
29:29But Lazar's testimony
29:31is not the only case
29:33of an alleged insider
29:35claiming there are secrets
29:36hidden within Area 51.
29:38Bob Lazar, however,
29:40was not the only person
29:42to come forward
29:43and talk about
29:44his time spent
29:44at Area 51.
29:46In 2011,
29:47in Annie Jacobson's book,
29:49she interviews
29:49an unnamed source
29:51who says that he was
29:52one of five engineers
29:54also contracted
29:56by EG&G
29:57and sent to Area 51.
29:59This unnamed engineer's
30:01claims are incredibly
30:02similar to Bob Lazar's
30:04claims for what's going
30:05on at Area 51.
30:07Annie Jacobson's source,
30:09his duties,
30:10trying to figure out
30:12the propulsion system,
30:13trying to reverse engineer it,
30:15sound very similar
30:16to Bob Lazar's duties.
30:18Also, the name
30:19of the facility,
30:20Sigma-4,
30:22or S-4,
30:23and that's exactly
30:24what Bob Lazar said.
30:29In 2020,
30:31Area 51 researchers
30:32are buzzing
30:33with excitement
30:34over a video
30:36posted on social media.
30:38It purports to show
30:39entrances to an
30:41underground base
30:42below Area 51,
30:44portals that didn't exist
30:46in older satellite photos.
30:49A video shows
30:50what appears to be
30:52entrances to some sort
30:54of underground facility.
30:57And this is something new.
30:58Comparing it
30:59with earlier satellite photographs,
31:02they weren't there.
31:03And there are people
31:04now who believe
31:06the base is being
31:08extended,
31:09but most of it's
31:10under the surface.
31:11And that's just part
31:14of maybe a much
31:15wider network
31:17of underground facilities,
31:19underground bases,
31:21underground tunnels.
31:22There are very good reasons
31:27why facilities would be
31:29moved underground
31:29at Area 51.
31:30The fact that we're now
31:31living in an era
31:32when satellites can look
31:34at anything anytime
31:35that they want to,
31:35if the site is going
31:37to continue as a site
31:38where secret aerospace
31:39projects are being developed,
31:41everything's going to have
31:41to go underground
31:42because the Russians
31:43can otherwise see it.
31:44Russian satellites
31:45have been watching
31:46this piece of land
31:47since the Cold War.
31:49So clearly,
31:51there's something
31:51going on there
31:52that isn't visible
31:53on the surface.
31:54Michael Schrat
31:55is a UFO researcher
31:57who specializes
31:59in looking at
32:00military bases,
32:02underground facilities,
32:04the tie-in
32:05with aviation.
32:07And he believes
32:09that there is
32:10an immense
32:11underground facility
32:13at Area 51.
32:15According to Schrat,
32:16there's an underground tunnel
32:18from Area 51
32:19all the way
32:20to Edwards Air Force Base
32:21in California,
32:22some 400 miles away.
32:24He also claims
32:25that there's a tunnel
32:26that goes from Area 51
32:28to right Air Force Base
32:29in Ohio,
32:31and that tube
32:32would have to be
32:33almost 2,000 miles long.
32:35It would be massive
32:36in scale.
32:37Schrat's thesis
32:38is not outrageous
32:40when you consider
32:41that the era
32:41of the Cold War
32:42led to the creation
32:44of these secret
32:44underground facilities,
32:46where senior members
32:48of the Senate,
32:49the House of Representatives,
32:50the President,
32:50the Vice President,
32:51and their families,
32:52where they could go
32:52in the event
32:53of a Soviet nuclear attack.
32:55But you have to wonder
32:56how the government
32:57could undertake
32:58such a massive
32:59underground construction effort
33:01without the public
33:02finding out about it.
33:03Schrat claims
33:04that they got away
33:04with this
33:05because records
33:06of patents
33:07and inventions
33:08that suggest
33:09scientists and engineers
33:10at Los Alamos
33:11came up with
33:12a nuclear-powered drill
33:13that could melt rock
33:15on contact
33:16and could move
33:18through the ground
33:19at three miles per day.
33:21Hypothetically,
33:22as this drill
33:23is powering its way
33:24through the land,
33:25it is actually melting
33:26the minerals
33:27that it's moving through
33:28and leaving
33:29almost a glass-like surface
33:31on the walls behind it.
33:32The implications of this
33:34are that there could be
33:35an entire underground network
33:37beneath the U.S.,
33:39of which Area 51
33:40is only one part.
33:41There is evidence
33:43suggesting
33:44a sprawling
33:45underground tunnel system
33:47beneath
33:47the Nevada test site,
33:49the government's
33:50nuclear testing facility
33:52right next door
33:53to Area 51.
33:55In fact,
33:56we know
33:56that massive tunnels
33:57have been dug
33:58at various locations.
34:00According to one witness
34:01under the Nevada test site,
34:03right next door
34:04to Area 51,
34:05there are all sorts
34:06of tunnels
34:07used to move around
34:08equipment and personnel.
34:10So if it's the case
34:13that there is a network
34:14like this
34:14under the Nevada test site,
34:16it stands to reason
34:17that there could well
34:18be one under Area 51
34:19if there is,
34:21what's being used for?
34:23A lot of people think
34:24the connection
34:25to Area 51
34:26makes it seem
34:27almost obvious
34:28this has something
34:29to do
34:30with alien technologies.
34:32In 2023,
34:33Christopher Mellon,
34:34former deputy
34:35undersecretary of defense
34:37under Bill Clinton
34:38and George W. Bush,
34:39claims that there is
34:41a whole lot
34:42of information
34:43out there
34:44about government
34:45possession
34:46of alien technology
34:47and maybe actual aliens
34:49that the public
34:50needs to know about.
34:52Mellon states
34:53the U.S. government
34:54should be transparent
34:56with its knowledge
34:57of UFOs,
34:58and in 2024,
35:00he posts
35:01a redacted document
35:03allegedly showing
35:04a conversation
35:05between him
35:06and a high-level
35:07U.S. intelligence official
35:09discussing
35:09an alien spacecraft
35:11that crashed
35:12300 miles away
35:14from Area 51.
35:16So this redacted
35:17text conversation
35:18with an unnamed
35:19government official
35:20says specifically
35:21that we are dealing
35:23with a recovered UAP,
35:25an unidentified
35:26aerial phenomenon
35:27that was recovered
35:28from Kingman, Arizona
35:30in the 1950s.
35:31If this is genuine,
35:33it suggests that
35:34there really is
35:36something to the claims
35:37that we have encountered
35:39alien life
35:40and alien technology.
35:42This could explain
35:43the amazing level
35:45of secrecy
35:46surrounding Area 51,
35:47that this facility
35:49is being used
35:50to house
35:50alien technology
35:52and maybe
35:52actual aliens.
35:57Area 51
35:59may be the most
36:00secretive,
36:01highly guarded base
36:02on American soil,
36:04but it still shows up
36:05on satellite images.
36:08With the use
36:08of Google Earth,
36:09you can look
36:09at Area 51.
36:10Now, some areas,
36:12critical infrastructure
36:13is blurred
36:14so that you can't
36:15see what's actually
36:15happening there,
36:16but Area 51
36:17is not.
36:18But it's what's going
36:19on inside the buildings
36:20and specifically
36:21the hangars
36:22at Area 51.
36:23That's where
36:23the interesting
36:24things happen.
36:25Every time
36:26Google Earth
36:26updates its images
36:28of Area 51,
36:32researchers become
36:33very excited
36:33because they want
36:34to see what kind
36:35of changes
36:36have taken place
36:37since the last time
36:38it was updated.
36:39These researchers
36:39scour these photos
36:41for any kind
36:42of differences.
36:43In 2020,
36:44those images
36:45show a pretty big
36:46modification
36:47to two of the base's hangars.
36:50Structures are built
36:52onto the existing hangars
36:53of Area 51,
36:54these porticos
36:54that cover the existing hangars
36:56and provide these big extensions.
36:59These hangars were built
36:59during the development
37:01of the F-117 stealth fighter.
37:02Now, although that aircraft
37:03is no longer in service,
37:05it's believed
37:05that the existing structures
37:07could be adapted
37:08for a contemporary use,
37:10that they could be used
37:10by modern aircraft
37:11or these extensions
37:12that appeared suddenly
37:13in 2020,
37:14they might actually
37:15be there to obscure
37:16where secret aerospace
37:17projects are being developed.
37:19Some theorists think
37:21these new kinds of hangars
37:22are designed to house
37:24something pretty different,
37:25maybe rather than housing
37:27a small number
37:29of really big aircraft,
37:30they might be housing
37:31a really big number
37:33of very small aircraft.
37:35That this could be
37:36advanced technology
37:37that the Air Force
37:38doesn't want us
37:39to know about,
37:40waves of tiny aircraft
37:42that can attack simultaneously.
37:47This drone swarm
37:49is in its infancy,
37:51I mean,
37:51we see in a very
37:52sort of low-tech
37:54but highly effective way,
37:56tanks and armored vehicles
37:58being destroyed
37:59by drones
38:00in the war in Ukraine.
38:02And using AI,
38:04they would act
38:05as a single entity,
38:07but it's almost
38:07like a giant robot.
38:08It's arguably going to be
38:10the next generation
38:11of warfare.
38:12So what is it
38:13about these new structures
38:14that suggest drone swarm?
38:15Some researchers believe
38:17that the layout
38:18of the new hangars
38:18is structured
38:19in such a way
38:20that a drone swarm
38:21can be activated,
38:22it can then exit
38:23the structure,
38:24it can fly
38:25a simulated combat mission
38:26and then return
38:27to the structure
38:28and fly in
38:28from the other side.
38:29It would be pretty difficult
38:30for operators
38:31to manage
38:32a big drone swarm
38:34and the layout
38:35of this facility
38:36suggests that
38:37it was created
38:38to make it easier
38:39to do that.
38:40While there's
38:41no proof
38:42of such an experimental
38:43program underway,
38:45there have
38:46allegedly been
38:47strange sightings
38:48in the Nevada skies
38:49ever since 2020
38:51when the hangars
38:52were modified.
38:53There have been
38:54some new sightings
38:56over Area 51
38:57that kind of seem
38:58like they could
38:58connect to this idea.
39:00One person
39:01reported seeing
39:02over 100
39:04individual UFOs
39:06almost all
39:07just at the same time.
39:08Someone described
39:09a fireball
39:10within a cube.
39:12In the fall
39:12of 2024,
39:14another witness
39:15reported seeing
39:16strange lights
39:17every single night
39:18consecutive
39:19for two months
39:20at Area 51.
39:23The timing
39:23leaves some
39:24to wonder
39:25if what was
39:26happening
39:26over Area 51
39:28could be related
39:29to the rash
39:30of alleged drone
39:31sightings
39:31at the end
39:32of 2024
39:33that had experts
39:34baffled
39:35from coast
39:36to coast.
39:37This gets a lot
39:39bigger than just
39:40the Nevada desert
39:41because we have
39:42started getting
39:43reports of drones
39:44being spotted
39:45everywhere.
39:47This came to a head
39:48in November of 2024
39:49in New Jersey
39:50where many,
39:52many people
39:53were seeing drones,
39:54unexplained,
39:56multiple drones
39:56at a time.
39:57We got social media
39:58postings,
39:59uploaded videos,
40:00all about these drones
40:01in New Jersey.
40:03Local law enforcement
40:04and various government
40:05officials claim
40:06to have no idea
40:07what's going on.
40:08But if this is
40:09some kind of black op
40:11or something that's
40:11being developed
40:12in Area 51,
40:14it's not as though
40:14the government
40:15is going to let us
40:15know about it.
40:16To this day,
40:17we still don't know
40:18what's happening
40:19at Area 51.
40:20This history of secrecy
40:22associated with
40:22Groom Lake,
40:23it extends
40:24into the present.
40:26It's not something
40:26that belongs
40:27to the 1950s.
40:28It's not something
40:29that belongs
40:29to the previous century
40:30and the era
40:31of the Cold War.
40:32It's something
40:33that belongs
40:33to today.
40:37Is Area 51
40:39hiding some kind
40:40of extraterrestrial evidence?
40:43Or is the intense secrecy
40:45intended to protect
40:46more traditional
40:47military secrets?
40:48We may never know.
40:50Then again,
40:52the government
40:52once refused
40:53to say Area 51
40:54even existed.
40:57Perhaps with time,
40:58the truth
40:59will finally be revealed.
41:00I'm Lawrence Fishburne.
41:02Thank you for watching
41:03History's Greatest Mysteries.
Comments